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10 Best TV Halloween Specials To Re-Watch This Year

If there’s one thing a television series loves it’s the chance to do a Halloween special. Whether it ramps up the horror or just sticks to a hilarious Halloween party concept, they’re bound to be memorable.

These 10 classic shows outdid themselves with their special episodes creating moments that will stick in our minds for years – whether we want them to or not.

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – “Hush” (S4 E10)

Kicking it off with a personal favourite, this episode of Buffy constantly appears on “Best of Buffy” lists and was the series’ only episode to be nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series.

Having been praised for the writing of his dialogue, series creator Joss Whedon decided to do something entirely different – and wrote an episode almost completely devoid of speech.

This episode sees one of the entire series’ scariest villains, The Gentlemen, visit Sunnydale intent on cutting out residents’ hearts. Whilst the townspeople sleep, The Gentlemen steal their voices and lock them in a box. Upon waking the whole town discover they cannot speak and Buffy and her gang have to try and stop the brutal murders whilst being unable to verbally communicate. Luckily, Buffy and her friends triumph and, after getting her voice back, Buffy screams until The Gentlemen’s heads blow up…the episode certainly finishes with a bang – and a lot of brain goo!

The eerie lack of speech and intense soundtrack really make this episode what it is, but the real genius is the concept of the villains. Floating, Victorian-dressed creatures that smile as they cut your heart out – they are definitely the stuff of nightmares.

There’s nothing How I Met Your Mother likes more than flashbacks and running motifs. The first season’s Halloween special became a running joke for the entire series with writers discussing how the “slutty pumpkin” would feature in each season.

The first episode focusses on a Halloween party on the rooftop of Ted’s apartment. For Ted, the evening is spent waiting for the “slutty pumpkin” to turn up, having met her in 2001 and lost her phone number the same night.

A whole six seasons later “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns” when Ted is able to track her down through the costume shop that rented her pumpkin costume. Katie Holmes guest stars as Naomi, wearer of the slutty pumpkin outfit. Their ensuing relationship is awkward and not what they both expected, but having searched for each other for so long they are both reluctant to break it off.

These episodes do what How I Met Your Mother does best and provides us with all the expected laughs from a Halloween special along with edging us a little closer to finding out who the mother is – if only by eliminating one more girlfriend. Separate to the main storyline, Barney discovering he is one-quarter Canadian gives Neil Patrick Harris is absolutely hilarious.

3. Family Guy – “Peternormal Activity” (S14 E04)

The latest of three Family Guy Halloween specials (previously “Halloween on Spooner Street” and “Quagmire’s Quagmire“), “Peternormal Activity” is a play on the Paranormal Activity film series.

Our favourite Quahog four, Peter, Joe, Cleveland and Quagmire set out to write their own horror film at Quahog Asylum. When they get scared and try to escape, they accidentally end up locked in. What they aren’t expecting to find is an old, creepy man with a hook for a hand. Naturally they decide to beat him to death, before discovering he was the property’s caretaker. They bury him in a nearby hill and agree to keep quiet about it.

Peter suffers during the night when things start happening in spookily similar circumstances to the murderous night. When Quagmire repeatedly denies being involved in the murder, Peter decides to frame him for it. He sets off to the asylum, only to discover that everyone has had the same idea and is attempting to pin it on each other.

In a genius move, by Peter’s standards, he decides this will make the perfect horror film, releasing it under the title Cereal Killer.

4. Modern Family – “Halloween” (S2 E06)

The most viewed episode of the second series, the Halloween special of hit comedy series Modern Family, was aptly titled “Halloween“.

Claire is a big big fan of the holiday and decides to design an elaborate haunted house for neighbours to come and visit. Phil learns that their next door neighbour has divorced his wife and convinces himself that Claire has also fallen out of love with him.

Mitchell has everybody’s worst work nightmare by turning up dressed as Spiderman and finding out that only the “tools and douches” wear costumes.

The costumes and elaborate set of the Dunphy’s haunted house is enough to get this episode into any top 10, let alone the infallible witty dialogue.

5. Friends – “The One with the Halloween Party” (S8 E06)

Any Friends fan would struggle to pick out a top 10 from each season let alone from the entire series. However, when it comes to holiday specials, they know what they’re doing. “The One with the Halloween Party” gets all of our favourite friends together for a fancy dress party at Monica’s apartment.

There’s no need to provide a synopsis because it’s almost guaranteed every person in the world has seen it. Friends is just that show isn’t it? Suffice to say it involves Ross in a potato outfit, Rachel paying children not to cry and an epic arm wrestle.

Check out some of the best bits here:

6. American Horror Story – “Halloween” (S1 E04&05)

Taking a steer away from comedy, American Horror Story is happy to provide us with an actual scary Halloween TV special. Ignoring the fact that the whole series is incredibly spooky, “Halloween” adds a whole new level of creepy.

We first see couple Chad and Patrick preparing for their Halloween party which they hope will encourage someone to buy their house. After arguing about Patrick’s infidelity, the threatening Rubber Man appears and kills them both, making it look like a murder-suicide.

Flashforward a year and we see Ben and Vivien discussing how to sell the house with realtor Marcy. Marcy believes the house needs “fluffers” to come in and spruce up the house; after all, its image as a “murder house” doesn’t do well in an advert. Lo and behold, who should turn up, but Chad and Patrick.

What follows is a lot of drama. When the dead are allowed to roam freely, its guaranteed to cause a few problems.

7. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – “Hex and the Single Guy” (S4 E07)

The classic 90s sitcom starring Will Smith takes on Halloween in this comic episode.

After Hilary’s fiancée tragically dies in a freak bungee-jumping accident, she takes the Banks’ family to a séance to try and contact him. Will is skeptical and causes the spiritualist to kick them out, cursing the family as they go.

Chaos ensues as the hex takes effect. Uncle Phil is accused of accepting bribes, Carlton has a hair dye disaster, Geoffrey is deported, Ashley breaks her ankle, and to Will’s complete horror, Hilary and Jazz get engaged. It is up to Will to plead with the psychic to lift the curse.

8. The Simpsons – “Treehouse of Horror” (S2 onwards)

The first of this Halloween series was back in 1990 in the second season of the US animated TV series. Since then there have been a total of 27 “Treehouse of Horror” episodes.

Each episode is split into three segments and plunges the family and other residents of Springfield into some sort of supernatural or horror setting. Over the years several trademarks have emerged and appear in most Halloween specials; aliens Kang and Kodos are particular favourites as well as the “scary names” in the credits.

In “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” Guillermo del Toro tried his hand at creating the opening “couch gag”, featuring many of his famous creations.

9. The Big Bang Theory – “The Holographic Excitation” (S6 E05)

This Halloween special from the sixth season of popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory features a good old-fashioned Halloween party.

Held at Stuart’s comic book store, Raj is head party planner and takes charge of the spookily themed food and TARDIS photo booth whilst Amy and Sheldon argue over their couples’ costume.

Meanwhile, everyone is getting sick of Howard and his endless astronaut tales, which puts him in a particularly bad mood, made very comical by his Papa Smurf outfit. Buzz Aldrin makes a charming guest appearance in a supposed Youtube video at the end of the episode, showing Howard his potential tragic future.

10. Toy Story of Terror

This made-for-TV special follows on from where Toy Story 3 left us, and was broadcast on ABC on 13th October 2013.

The 21-minute Halloween special sees the toys take a road trip with their new owner Bonnie. When a flat tire leads her and her mother to spend a night in a motel, Mr. Potato Head goes missing and the gang find themselves on a mysterious and terrifying quest to find their friend.

The special contains all our favourite characters and introduces us to newbie “Combat Carl” voiced by actor and former NFL player Carl Weathers.

The humour and pacey dialogue from the original big screen trilogy remain in this TV edition and it has been highly praised, gaining a rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

If you’re looking for something to watch with the little ones this Halloween, or if you’re just a big kid yourself, nothing can beat Woody and Buzz.

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Watch Jeremy Clarkson mock the BBC in new Amazon ad

The 36 second ad, which will premiere on ITV tomorrow (31.10.15) during the Rugby World Cup Final, shows Clarkson poncing around on a Segway in a posh house that maybe he bought on his ridiculous new salary from Amazon (reported to be £10m a year).

“Back in the Spring, as you probably remember, I suddenly became unbusy,” he says, referring to his highly publicised firing from Top Gear after his ‘fracas’ with one of the BBC show’s producers.

“But that was okay because I had one of these,” he continues. “An Amazon Fire TV Stick”.

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EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Noah Wyle tells us about Season 2 of The Librarians

Noah Wyle first won our hearts as the dedicated Dr. John Carter on NBC medical drama E.R. Since then he has starred in such films as A Few Good Men and Donnie Darko, and, perhaps most famously, led the popular science-fiction series Falling Skiesas the alien-fighting Tom Mason.

Wyle’s latest venture harks back to some of his earlier work in the cult film franchise The Librarian. TV spinoff The Librarianssees Wyle continue in his role as the heroic polymath Flynn Carsen, while also taking on an executive producer’s seat.

A playful string of adventures for all the family, TNT‘s The Librarians was crowned the highest rating cable debut in the States last year, and was swiftly picked up for a second season, which will come to Syfy in the UK this November 2nd. The series also stars Rebecca Romijn (X-Men), Lindy Booth (Kick-Ass 2, Dawn of the Dead), and comedy legend Bob Newhart, and follows a team of unlikely heroes as they embark on numerous quests to solve impossible mysteries and recover ancient artefacts, all while fighting against supernatural threats.

We had the pleasure of catching up with Noah Wyle while he was in London this month. Watch the video below to see what he had to tell us about everything from time travel to Steve Jobs, to his collection of farmyard animals.

The Librarians returns for season two on Monday 2 November at 8pm on Syfy.

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10 examples of the Hemsworths’ impossibly strong Instagram game

Chris and Liam Hemsworth may only have 35 posts between them on Instagram, but let us assure you – they’re of a particularly high standard.

Evidence of the brothers’ two main loves being fun and family, the Insta presence of these two Aussie heartthrobs has brought us countless tears of joy and laughter in just a few weeks of their accounts’ creation.

I mean seriously, just get a load of these pics and vids. It’s ridiculous. I… I just can’t.

Red’s On The Run: The Blacklist Is Back on Sky Living

Critically acclaimed American crime drama, The Blacklist, returns to Sky Living for its third season. Starring James Spader as criminal mastermind Raymond “Red” Reddington, the show opened with Red… read more

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Red’s On The Run: The Blacklist Is Back on Sky Living

Critically acclaimed American crime drama, The Blacklist, returns to Sky Living for its third season.

Starring James Spader as criminal mastermind Raymond “Red” Reddington, the show opened with Red inexplicably handing himself in to the FBI. His reasoning is that he wants to help them catch notorious terrorist Ranko Zamani, his only condition is that he deals directly and solely with rookie agent Elizabeth Keen.

This is where the titular blacklist comes in to play; Zamani isn’t the only criminal he wants to turn in. This just leads to more questions – mainly, why? Why does Red want to help the FBI? And, why has he chosen Elizabeth as his mediator?

Season two left viewers in shock with the news that Liz’s name was right up next to Red’s on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list. After seeing Red and Liz fleeing together, the question everyone will be asking for season three is, where are they now?

Stephen Colbert guesses entire plot of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Late Show host Stephen Colbert has joined the rest of the internet in speculating about the heavily guarded plot to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, claiming that he – a self-proclaimed super fan… read more

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Stephen Colbert guesses entire plot of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Late Show host Stephen Colbert has joined the rest of the internet in speculating about the heavily guarded plot to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, claiming that he – a self-proclaimed super fan – has “the definitive guess as to the entire plot of the movie”.

After joking about his friendship with director J.J. Abrams, the comedian astutely predicts that those in the Star Wars universe whom we have known to represent good will be corrupted, and those who have traditionally fought for evil will find redemption in the light.

“I predict that dark becomes light; that light becomes dark. That the very fabric of the force is stretched to its limit, as a new generation emerges to tear down the distinctions of the past, and unite all of us, old and new … once and for all bringing peace to the galaxy.”

He also suggests that John Boyega’s character – former Stormtrooper Finn – will be the key to this paradigm shift.

Watch Colbert’s prediction below, and make sure to check the accuracy of it when Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally hits UK theatres on December 17th of this year.

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Have a high brow Halloween with Curzon Home Cinema’s ‘Stream and Scream’ collection

Now that we’ve given you a rundown of the irresistibly cheap thrills and deliciously bad taste horror on Amazon and Netflix this year, allow us to point you in the direction of some hair-raising Halloween programming for the more discerning film fan.

As of today and until November 9th, Curzon Home Cinemapresents its Stream and Scream collection, featuring a mix of tricks ‘n’ treats in the form of sci fi, mystery, international and documentary films. Here’s what Curzon has in store for those of you seeking a higher brow Halloween this year…

A terrifying exploration of real life incidents, Rodney Ascher’s The Nightmare recreates some of the worst visions had by people suffering from sleep paralysis; a phenomenon which approximately one third of the British population is said to have experienced, and which Wes Craven cites as his inspiration for Freddy Krueger and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

Also from Rodney Ascher comes this documentary giving voice to some of the theories surrounding Kubrick’s iconic 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining. From Holocaust references to moon landing conspiracies, obsessive cinephiles offer their interpretations of what they believe to be the film’s hidden meanings; some of which have us rather convinced…

The low budget found footage film in need of no introduction, this worldwide phenomenon and its innovative marketing campaign pretty much sparked a new genre for a new century, and earned a seat at the ‘most profitable films of all time’ table. A must-see for the uninitiated, and well worth a revisit from the rest of us (now we’re reassured that it is in fact fictional – whew)!

Directed and co-written by giallo genre legend Dario Argento, this cult Italian horror sees a young Jessica Harper as an American ballet student, who discovers that her prestigious German dance academy is a front for something far more sinister. Featuring an original score from Italian prog rockers Goblin, no less.

Alexandre O. Philippe (The People vs. George Lucas) examines our fascination with the zombie genre in film, literature, and popular culture as a whole in this definitive documentary, featuring interviews with the likes of zombie trailblazers George A. Romero and Robert Kirkman, and actors Simon Pegg, Bruce Campbell and Judith O’Dea.

Otherwise known by its original title L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps, this international production follows an ordinary businessman who returns home to find that his wife has gone missing; the search for whom leads him to discover a complicated web of murder and deception.

Sam Neill is having some wife trouble of his own in this French-German horror, as his character’s wife leaves him and begins to spiral into madness. Yet upon hiring a private investigator to follow her, he soon learns she is hiding a much bigger secret than just another lover.

Toby Jones plays Gilderoy – a British sound engineer in a 1970s Italian horror studio – who uses real life torture methods to extract the sound effects he needs for the blood-drenched giallo thriller he is working on. A creepy anti-horror and a loving tribute to the genre at a snappy 92 minutes long.

“10 seconds: the pain begins. 15 seconds: you can’t breathe. 20 seconds: you explode”. The graphic below says it all, doesn’t it? Securing David Cronenberg’s notability to the ‘body horror’ genre, this audacious sci fi presents the ‘scanners’ – people with telepathic and telekinetic powers, whose thoughts can literally kill – and how a weapons-dealing corporation seeks to use them for its own sinister gain.

Forming one third of the ‘Depression Trilogy’ from Lars von Trier – A.K.A arthouse film’s biggest troll – this shocker opens with an infant child falling out of a window to his death while his oblivious parents (von Trier muses Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) get it on in the next room. With an exposition like that, you just know things are going to get pretty effed up.

In case things are getting a bit heavy for you in this hypothetical movie marathon, here’s an hilarious mockumentary horror from Kiwi comedy legends Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby, who play a trio of vampire housemates struggling to cope with the complexities of modern life.

Publicised as ‘The one that goes all the way’, this found footage exploitation horror from director Ruggero Deodato – which follows a team of American film-makers searching the Amazon basin for a previous expedition, who disappeared whilst investigating cannibal tribes – is still considered one of the most controversial films of all time; and for good reason. Find out why, if you’ve got the stomach for it.

Sandra Bullock to lead all-female Ocean’s Eleven

Sandra Bullock is set to fill the boots of her Gravity co-star George Clooney in a new, all-female reboot of Ocean’s Eleven. Another addition to the recent Hollywood gender-swapping ensemble trend, the new project… read more

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Sandra Bullock to lead all-female Ocean’s Eleven

Sandra Bullock is set to fill the boots of her Gravity co-star George Clooney in a new, all-female reboot of Ocean’s Eleven.

Another addition to the recent Hollywood gender-swapping ensemble trend, the new project will be helmed by The Hunger Games director Gary Ross, with the screenplay to be written by Olivia Milch (Little Women, Queen & Country), and Clooney in a producer’s seat.

Meanwhile, this weekend will see the premiere of Our Brand Is Crisis; a political comedrama starring Bullock in a leading role originally meant for Clooney.

He explained that the film had been ”languishing in development” until Sandra called him to say she wanted the part, adding: ”The minute she called and said she wanted to play the role that had been written as a man, the movie went into production”.

Our Brand Is Crisis is produced by George Clooney, and directed by David Gordon Green (Manglehorn, Pineapple Express).

The all-female Ocean’s is expected to be Gary Ross’s next film after he finishes up with The Free State Of Jones starring Matthew McConaughey.

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The Apprentice Recap: Screw You, Lord Sugar

Welcome to our weekly recap of The Apprentice. This week, Lord Sugar invites the candidates to the former home of Samuel Johnson.

Who exactly?

Samuel L Jackson, asks one candidate?

No, Samuel Johnson, says Sam. Our resident wordsmith would of course know who Samuel Johnson is. For those who don’t, he was an eighteenth century writer who basically founded the dictionary.

And what dictionary-related task has Lord Sugar got in store for the would-be Apprentices?

Why, selling products for pets at a pet show, of course! Samuel Johnson was ALSO a cat lover! How obvious – I can’t believe I didn’t see that one a mile off.

Here’s the statue of his cat, which is the second thing you think of when you hear the name Samuel Johnson (after, you know, thinking of Samuel L Jackson).

Since the girls’ team absolutely suck, Lord Sugar has decided upon mercy for Connexus and mixed up the teams again. Charleine, April and Vana will move over to Versatile; while Gary, Brett and Scott are to bat for Connexus.

My personal favourite Ruth is the first to pitch for Project Manager for Connexus, she says “I’ve sold exhibition space before. I know how to get people’s attention.”

However, Scott is also quick to make his mark on his new team, also pitching for PM.

“I have a little dog,” says Scott.

SCOTT FOR PM, cries Brett. And the group follow suit. Sorry, Ruth.

On the other team, there’s no argument. David is “really passionate” about this task. He doesn’t mention if he is a pet owner or even if he has any skills useful for the task. But he does “really want it”, so that’s enough.

Next, choosing the products.

David makes his mark as PM by immediately suggesting Versatile should sell human products at the pet show. T-shirts always sell at any event ever, he insists.

Let’s go and meet the sellers and see some awesome products for pets, then.

Meet Henrietta.

She’s modelling a high visibility jacket for chickens, and she’s pretty adorable.

“Is it about protecting the chicken crossing the road?” says Vana.

Henrietta doesn’t think much of the joke.

Next up, the t-shirts have arrived.

As expected, no one is more enthusiastic than David, the world’s biggest t-shirt fan.

“You can wear them with anything!” he gushes to the supplier, “you’re wearing it with jeans and I’m wearing it with a suit!”

And doesn’t that combo look fetching?

Meanwhile, Connexus PM Scott tells Brett he needs to be to-the-point and ask the suppliers plenty of questions with no waffle – a task Brett takes too much to heart.

Brett basically terrifies the poor eco-friendly poop bag guys with the sort of questioning technique usually seen in Prime Minister’s Question Time (before Corbyn’s new Question Time, that is).

Meanwhile, the other halves of the teams are off to the Excel to pick up some high-end products to sell at the convention. Get ready guys, this is going to be Harrods pet store worthy.

I introduce: luxury sofas for dogs.

Fit for the Queen’s corgis themselves, we have the ultimate luxury for your puppy pals. Sam and April are immediately entranced, and then share tales of man’s best friend.

Then there’s customisable cat towers.

These are undeniable awesome, and a proven high-seller. While they’d expect to sell 10 of these products, which sell for between £400 and £600, a day, one time they sold a whopping 19.

“19!” exclaims a shocked Gary.

Now to decide which high end products to buy. In Versatile, David says go for the dog sofa, while Charleine says we can sell more cat towers.

As is always the case whenever Charleine says anything, she is immediately overruled.

In Connexus, the girls suggest buying the a rabbit mansion (sorry, high quality hutch) over the customisable cat tower. The majority of the group’s opinion is not enough for PM Scott however, and he asks only man in the group Gary for his opinion instead.

Gary says cat towers.

Looks like it’s cat towers then.

Back in the less exciting products for animals room, we see a microwaveable cushion for all animals (but mainly slavedriver cats).

There’s also a toy for cats with a cool LED light.

However, everything else is blown out of the water though by…

THE MOST INCREDIBLE BALLOONS I’VE EVER SEEN. DAVID LIKES THEM. I LOVE THEM. EVERYONE LOVES THEM. APPARENTLY THEY SELL LIKE CRAZY. I NEED ONE IN MY LIFE.

I need one of these little guys in my life. It’s like having a pet, but short-term, cleaner and requiring no responsibility. Perfect.

Next to view the balloons is Connexus. Brett does his unenthusiastic questioning. I am thoroughly appalled. They are in no way deserving of the wonder that is those balloons.

ANYONE COULD BE MORE ENTHUSIASTIC THAN CONNEXUS.

However, they still see that the balloons are clearly a huge seller, and Connexus decide they want the balloons and heatmats.

Versatile want the balloons and t-shirts (obviously, as David was PM).

Gee, I wonder who will the supplier will pick…

Connexus are forced to go for the LED cat toy instead.

Meanwhile, I’m really upset this pet show has already happened. I want a balloon…

It’s the day of the convention, which is what the task is about. Not the balloons. They’re selling stuff.

I’ve been unsure about Scott during The Apprentice so far, but he really is in his element selling cat towers. He seems to be having absolutely no problem selling these very expensive items. Need a sales assistant, Harrods?

Not everyone is having Scott’s level of success however. Selina nearly jeopardises her sale by admitting she can’t do maths and asking Scott for help (in turn, damaging Scott’s chances of making a sale).

Meanwhile, the balloons are selling themselves.

Obviously.

Brett and Connexus are doing a little show on the brilliance of their cat toys to drum up sales.

This is Santosh the cat, who likes Brett about as much as I do.

It’s all going swimmingly, until Brett forgets where their stall is located. You know, the ENTIRE POINT OF THE DISPLAY.

Apparently it still leads to a surge in sales though. There’s probably not much crossover between pet lovers and cynical television recappers.

The other half of their team, apart from Scott, is having less success.

Ruth in particular is struggling to make sales. So far, she’s made none, but no one will say it was for lack of trying.

Actually, some might say it was for trying too hard.

“What she needs to do is shut up a little bit more and sell that product!” says a frustrated Claude.

Versatile’s Richard has made a dog sofa sale and he’s suddenly in a fantastic mood.

“I think people like my cheeky chappie style,” he exclaims, demonstrating no understanding of what that term actually means.

On the other team, cat tower sales are dwindling and Selina’s ready to call it a day.

It’s time for the boardroom! Who will emerge triumphant?

PM for Versatile, David, is up first. He admits the balloon selling was completely chaotic, and too many people were selling the lowest margin product.

With a manner I can only describe as trying to get your schoolmate told off, Charleine immediately butts in and says the cat towers statistically sold more than the dog beds but Richard still picked the dog beds to sell as Versatile’s high-end product.

You can’t blame her for the sudden outburst of resentment, as no one ever listens when she speaks.

The Connexus team are next and get grilled over their unenthusiastic, accusatory tactic for landing products, which… didn’t land products.

They also discuss their lack of sales. Namely, Ruth’s lack of sales.

Scott clearly likes Ruth because this is The Apprentice and he doesn’t take the very easy opportunity to throw her under a bus here.

Results time.

Connexus made £1221.20 on cat toys and heatpads, and £1807.20 on their cat towers, making a respectable £3028.40.

Versatile made £1589.50 on balloons and T-shirts, and £2462.12 on dog sofas, netting them an even better £4051.62.

Versatile win an Olympic training session with none other than Mo Farah!

Now, I love Mo as much as every other Brit, but I think I’d rather go back to the boardroom than run alongside one of the fastest and fittest men in the world…

Meanwhile, Connexus are back in misery cafe again. Perhaps they should consider permanently reserving a table?

Whose fault was the loss? They re-hash all their problems: not getting the balloons, Ruth’s complete lack of sales…

Lord Sugar basically repeats them. We know what the problems are at this point. Ruth’s selling, Selina’s laziness and Brett’s terrifying questioning of suppliers

Lord Sugar brings up Ruth’s day job and suddenly EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE. Non-stop talking and that dress sense? She works in telephone sales!

Scott decides to bring Selina and Ruth back into the boardroom. Brett gets a lucky escape.

Finally, Selina emerges like a very hungry tiger shaken from a nap, turning angrily on Scott and Ruth. She’s frustrated she is sitting there when both Ruth and Gary (who joined the high-end sales task later in the day) made no sales. She’s proud of her one sale.

Then, in a weirdly self-discriminatory way, Selina says Scott is crap because he picked her to be in the high-margin product sales team.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Jason Manford talks about The Money Pit on DAVE

Described by its host Jason Manford as ‘Dragons Den meetsDeal Or No Deal‘, DAVE‘s new game show The Money Pit sees forty total strangers put their own money on the line to invest in budding businesses, as pitched by a series of hopeful contestants.

Taking the crowd-funding trend to new and ever more entertaining heights, The Money Pit is real people investing in real people, as various entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes volunteer their innovations to the pit of potential investors. And there are some pretty bizarre ideas in there – we can tell you that much!

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Jason Manford to chat about The Money Pit, including inventions as far ranging as unicycles, coats for dogs, and chocolate anuses.

~

TVDaily: Hi Jason! Congratulations on the new show. I’ve watched some of it already and it’s very addictive.Jason Manford: It is, isn’t it? Well actually, I haven’t seen any of it yet, so you’ve seen more than I have. But I think it’s definitely got that feel of ‘I want to know what goes on with these people’.

You describe The Money Pit as ‘business speed-dating’. Why choose this kind of gameshow format for an investment programme?It really feels like Dragons Den meetsDeal Or No Deal to me. But it’s also got elements ofGogglebox as well; just having real people on telly is quite refreshing. That’s what drew me to it.

So why should entrepreneurs go on The Money Pit over Dragons’ Den?Well it depends how much money you want – you’re not going to get a hundred grand on our show. But what I like is that the backers are only a few years ahead of the people pitching, so there’s a tangible, ‘grabbable’ thing with these real people, that you can go ‘I can be that person in just a few years’. At the same time, the backers can see themselves in the pitchers, and I really like that as well.

I love Dragons’ Den – it’s one of my favourite shows – but sometimes it can be a bit like these multi-millionaires who’ve been multi-millionaires for decades. They can lose sight of what it’s like to be that guy or girl who’s put their heart and soul into a brand new venture, so that’s what I liked about it. It just felt like real people investing in real people.

What’s the best and/or wackiest invention that’s been brought to The Money Pit?Oh man, we’ve had loads. Probably the weirdest one was a guy who… I feel weird telling this to you! A guy came on who will cast your anus in chocolate, as a gift. So you get a box of your own chocolate anuses. Or he can cast them in metal, so you can get bits of jewellery, like someone had a cygnet ring of their partner’s anus. They’re apparently very individual, like fingerprints.

Well, you can’t get much weirder than that, can you?Yeah, it’s pretty weird. Then there’s a lot of stuff for dogs, so coats for dogs, travel bags for dogs… A lot of that going on, which I thought was bonkers, but Dominic Frisby, who’s the official stats guy, tells you that that industry makes 12 billion pounds a year, so it was a real learning curve there! So much stuff out there that I didn’t realise was a thing.

Are you a bit of an inventor yourself? Had any good ideas?Oh no, not at all. I invent things that’ve already been invented. I’m like ‘oh that’s a good idea!’, and then people tell me that already exists. In fact the last thing I invented was the bicycle… I was in a park and there were two guys on unicycles being daft, and I turned to my mate and I said ‘that looks like great fun, they’re having a right laugh, but you know what’d be better? If it had two wheels!’. He was like ‘you mean like a bike?’, and I was like, ‘oh, yeah’… So I’m not an inventor at all. But I do enjoy listening to new ideas and new things that are really clever. There were two women who invented a dating app called ‘Antidate’, which is a bit like Tinder, swiping left and right and stuff, but only women can make the first move, so there’s no blokes being like ‘ooh what you doing’, and women getting badgered all the time. So I thought that was a really good idea, because when I speak to my female friends that’s the main thing they say is the problem with internet and app dating; just creepy blokes.

Speaking of the internet, on a side note, I know that you’ve been on a break from social media recently. How’s that been?Yeah, I gave it up for about five weeks! It was really tough for about a fortnight, because I kept seeing things that I wanted to go look up. Usually I’m all over it with social media, so it was really tough, but it did get a bit easier. It was kind of like cold turkey. I don’t think I would want to do it again though, because it was hard, and genuinely, there’s so much you miss. The amount of things that I didn’t realise were happening, because I realised just how much of my current affairs I get from social media. I don’t know that anyone reads newspapers anymore, or go on the news websites. Really, it’s just people in your network saying ‘have you seen this link?’, and you give it a click. And I was on holiday in Portugal as well actually, so that made it a bit easier.

I know your fans were missing you too on Facebook!Yeah, I came back to so many nice messages! And we raised like £14,000 for charity! What was interesting about it was – firstly, I didn’t think of the idea, someone just said you should do it for charity, and a lot of people on my Facebook were saying that – so I’ve got this charity that I’m patron of, so I said ok I’ll do it for them, so I set up a Just Giving site, and the Just Giving site is full of people running marathons, 10Ks, sky diving, bungee jumping, all for charity, and so they’re all doing something, and there I was doing nothing, and yet, the amount of people who were saying ‘Oh I couldn’t do that’ was amazing. Even the people running marathons thought ‘couldn’t do a month off Facebook’! So I recommend a Facebook fast to everyone. It feels like one of those cleanses. It feels good.

Ok, back to the show then, is there a good relationship between comedy and business?I guess so! I’ve got a couple of businesses myself, but I think a sense of humour helps you in all walks of life, whether you’re a vicar, or a plumber, or whatever. A sense of humour is always going to be useful. As far as helping you in business, I think comedy can be a real leveller, whoever you are. I remember doing the Royal Variety Show and making the Queen laugh. I was looking up and the Queen was laughing! I mean, we could not be any more different, but I just made a joke about Corgis that she thought was funny, and that connected two people who would never be connected in a million years. So yeah, I think comedy is useful in any walk of life.

It’s just being likeable, isn’t it?Precisely. People invest in people. That’s what I’m taking away from The Money Pit experience. And that’s what’s nice about my role – I happen to be a comedian hosting this show, where it’s not important that a comedian hosts the show at all. I mean there’s definitely funny moments, but the realness of the people comes out, and you just get the odd people who are so quirky and funny, I love that.